Photo courtesy of Iowa Central Athletics: Meya Wingert of Iowa Central (19) celebrates a point with her teammates at the NJCAA national tournament in Cedar Rapids.

CEDAR RAPIDS — After a heartbreaking loss on Wednesday to begin play at the NJCAA Div. II Volleyball Championships, seventh-ranked Iowa Central rebounded, sweeping Monroe here on Thursday.

Scores were 25-16, 25-22 and 25-18.

With the win, the Tritons (31-8 overall) advance to face either ICCAC rival No. 2 Kirkwood or eighth-ranked Gulf Coast in the next round of consolation play on Friday inside the Alliant Energy Powerhouse. That match is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

“Every match at the national tournament is tough, so I thought our girls did a great job of working through some tiredness after our five-setter on Wednesday,” ICCC head coach Sara Horn said. “Monroe plays a different style of volleyball than we often see in the Midwest, so our girls made some adjustments and found different ways to win.

“We love being here at the tournament and love watching these girls play, so we’re happy to play another day.”

Talya Sampson had a match-high 22 kills, while Shirley Monaghan added 13 for Iowa Central. Anabel Seaman dished out 39 assists and had 10 digs, and ex-Fort Dodge Dodger Meah McCaleb finished with 11 digs, two aces and an assist.

Addi Hindt (Southeast Valley) added four kills with two digs and two block assists.

Ava Paige and Devon Rodewald each had three aces. The Tritons recorded one solo block from Dena Robb, and had eight block assists.

Robb also had four kills, while Cooper Griffin tallied six kills. Sampson and Monaghan each added eight digs, while Rodewald had six.

For Monroe, Fabiana Lopez had nine kills and Deyja Tshibangu contributed eight. Mileyshka Melendez recorded 16 assists.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Iowa Central has reached the national tournament. The Tritons have been in the semifinals twice and placed no lower than ninth.